1. Prospect Research & Prospect Management
There is no Silver Bullet!
Abbie J. von Schlegell, CFRE
Sarah Tedesco, Executive Vice President

2. What is DonorSearch?
We provide Prospect Research and Prospect Identification services to nonprofits to improve the operational efficiency of fund raising.
We supply batch screening and modeling using wealth and philanthropy databases.
We supply online search tools for individual research, prospect generation.
We focus on predicting both capacity to give as well as philanthropic inclination.
We are a 10 year old family own business with 40+ employees headquartered in Maryland with 2,400+ active clients.
We have built and use the largest database of philanthropic gift records in the nation.
Our revenues continue to grow 20%+ per year.
Marriottsville, MD

3. Who is Abbie von Schlegell, CFRE
40+ years in Development
Institutions: Stanford University,
The University of Chicago, Enterprise Community Partners,
The Shakespeare Theatre Co., Consultant
Editor, first book on women’s philanthropy,
Women as Donors, Women as Philanthropists
Frequent speaker and presenter nationally and internationally
Just awarded FAFP, Distinguished Fellow from AFP International
10 year anniversary of own firm
Marriottsville, MD

4. Agenda Why Prospect Research? Major Gifts
How do you identify your Major Gift Prospects?
Reviewing Lists with Volunteer Leadership
6 Markers of Philanthropy
Prospect Management
Best Practices of the Nonprofit Sector
Marriottsville, MD

5. Why Prospect Research?
Prospect Research is essential for identifying high-impact donors within an organization’s current donor pool and in the larger community.
Different types of Methods
Screening
One off searches
Social Media
Communication with Donors
Self Identified
Marriottsville, MD

6. Why Major Gifts?
Major gifts are some of the largest donations your organization will receive. 
80% of their fundraising total coming from 20% of their donors. There's even a defensible stance that the comparison is much more drastic, which argues that the break down is closer to for major gifts.
Major gift programs give interested supporters guidance in the allocation of their funds. 
Marriottsville, MD

7. What is Your Major Gift Size?
Amount +
Purpose =
Extraordinary
The first step is to define what a “Major Gift” is for you. The term major gift means something different at every organization.
Marriottsville, MD

8. Capability for Major Gifts 3% of estimated net worth
What is Your Major Gift?
Capability for Major Gifts
3% of estimated net worth
10/20 times consistent annual gift
Marriottsville, MD

9. How do you Identify these Major Players?
Determine the prospect’s potential for giving
Consider wealth screening
Conduct leadership volunteer and board reviews
Place the prospect appropriately in the gift range chart
Marriottsville, MD

10. Six Markers of Philanthropy First Study - 2005
$5 Billion Million
in Giving Individuals Organizations
Marriottsville, MD

11. Six Markers of Philanthropy New Study - 2017
$685 Million Million
in Giving Individuals Organizations
(no outliers)
Marriottsville, MD

12. Six Markers of Philanthropy
Giving to Your Organization
Marriottsville, MD

13. Previous Giving to Your Organization
RFM = Relationship or Affinity Score.
It’s calculated using the following 3 data sets:
- Recency of giving (0-100)
- Frequency of giving (0-100)
- Monetary total contribution (0-100)
Total RFM score ranges from 0-300
Analysis of previous giving to your organization is the single best predictor of future philanthropy
RECENCY FREQUENCY MONETARY
Last Gift Number of Gifts Total Giving
Marriottsville, MD

14. Six Markers of Philanthropy
Giving to Other Organizations
Marriottsville, MD

15. Prior Giving Elsewhere
Largest Gift
% of Donors
% of Giving
Predictive Strength
Benchmark
100%
1.00
$100,000+
0.7%
24.1%
32.67
$50,000 - $100,000
0.5%
13.5%
25.02
$25,000 - $50,000
0.6%
6.5%
11.79
$10,000 - $25,000
7.0%
10.73
$5,000 - $10,000
1.1%
5.4%
4.98
Marriottsville, MD

16. Six Markers of Philanthropy
Foundation Trustee
Marriottsville, MD

17. IRS990PF
Marriottsville, MD

18. New Findings: Foundation Trustee
All User Reported Donors
All User Reported Donors Matching to Foundation Trustee (Y or M) 1
Nonprofit Users Reporting
227
192 2
User Reported Donors
684,351
14,225 (48:1 or 2%) 3
Average Lifetime Giving
$315
$1,306 4
Cumulative Lifetime Giving
$149,798,873
$13,791,182 5
Total Gift Count
2,403,282
83,290 6
Average Individual Gift Size
$87
$257 7
Per Person Average Gift Size Comparison
$1.00
$2.95 8
Per Person Average Lifetime Giving Comparison
$4.15
Marriottsville, MD

19. Six Markers of Philanthropy
Political Giving
Marriottsville, MD

20. Political Giving % of Donors % of Giving Strength
All Giving > $2.5K
3.8%
54.6%
14.37
All Giving > $1K
11.0%
70.7%
32.67
All Giving > $500
14.4%
74.3%
25.02
A single political gift of $250 puts your donor in the top 6% of the U.S. population
A single political gift of $1,000 puts your donor in the top 1/10th of 1% !
Virtually every FEC donor with lifetime political giving of $15,000 has made a 5-, 6-, or 7-figure charitable gift somewhere
Marriottsville, MD

21. Six Markers of Philanthropy
Value of Real Estate
Marriottsville, MD

22. Value of Real Estate Real Estate Value % of Donors % of Giving
Predictive Strength
$2+ million
1.4%
25.0%
17.6
$1-2 million
3.2%
13.2%
4.2
$750K - $1 million
2.5%
5.7%
2.3
$500K - $750K
5.4%
6.8%
1.3
$250K - $500K
12.8%
8.6%
0.7
$125K - $250K
10.9%
4.8%
0.4
$125K
8.4%
3.5%
Marriottsville, MD

23. Six Markers of Philanthropy
Business Affiliations
Marriottsville, MD

24. Business Affiliations
% of Donors
% of Giving
Strength
SEC | Yes & Maybe
2.0%
15.5%
7.8
Market Guide | Yes & Maybe
3.0%
19.5%
6.6
D&B | Yes & Maybe $5+ million
0.6%
5.1%
9.0
D&B | Yes & Maybe $1-5 million
0.7%
2.5%
3.5
D&B | Yes & Maybe
6.5%
21.5%
3.3
Marriottsville, MD

25. Prospect Management
Identify a staff members for ongoing prospect management
Assess needs for skill building and plan appropriate training
Document Prospect Management Practices for the full Development Team (staff and volunteers)

26. Prospect Management in Practice
Set up systems in donor database to support prospect management
Decide what research results to upload into the donor database
Decide how many “good prospects” needed to meet goals

27. Motivating Your Potential Donors
You cannot motivate people: they are already motivated – your job is to find out what motivates them and give the messages and create the environment for involvement that will help their interest flourish and engage them with you
Listen (two ears, one mouth ratio) to what donors say and ask; observe who they gravitate towards at events
Most of all, listen for the nearly audible “click” when your program’s values combine with theirs

28. Clearly Stated Mission Donors Respect the Fundraisers and Staff
Prospect Research & Wealth Screening
Demonstration of sound business teams
Board Members engaged and Strong Leadership
Everyone understands philanthropy
Trained Fundraisers with an appetite to learn – CFRE, ACFRE
Where do you fall?
Marriottsville, MD

29. If you have any questions:
Stay in touch!
If you have any questions:
Abbie:
Sarah:
Marriottsville, MD